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A02179 Summary:

BILL NOA02179
 
SAME ASNo Same As
 
SPONSORRosenthal L (MS)
 
COSPNSRDinowitz, Simon
 
MLTSPNSRArroyo, Glick, Gottfried
 
Add §202-n, Lab L
 
Requires sexual harassment training for hotel and motel employees; requires operators to certify to the department that they have conducted sexual harassment training; provides such training every two years for employees; requires "know your rights" brochure and employee bill of rights.
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A02179 Actions:

BILL NOA02179
 
01/17/2017referred to labor
01/03/2018referred to labor
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A02179 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          2179
 
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 17, 2017
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M. of A. ROSENTHAL, DINOWITZ -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M.
          of A. ARROYO, GLICK, GOTTFRIED  --  read  once  and  referred  to  the
          Committee on Labor
 
        AN  ACT  to amend the labor law, in relation to requiring sexual harass-
          ment training for hotel and motel employees

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section  1.  The labor law is amended by adding a new section 202-n to
     2  read as follows:
     3    § 202-n. Sexual harassment training for hotel and motel employees.  1.
     4  On  or after the ninetieth day after the effective date of this section,
     5  hotels and motels  shall  provide  sexual  harassment  training  to  its
     6  employees  via  a  classroom or other effective interactive training and
     7  shall include, but not be limited to, the following topics:
     8    (a) Information and practical guidance regarding  federal,  state  and
     9  local statutory laws about sexual harassment;
    10    (b)  Information  about  the  correction  of sexual harassment and the
    11  remedies available to victims of sexual harassment;
    12    (c)  Practical  examples  aimed  at  instructing  supervisors  in  the
    13  prevention of sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.
    14    2. Hotels and motels shall have two months from the hiring date of any
    15  new employee to provide sexual harassment training for such employee.
    16    3.  Employees  shall  receive training every two years following their
    17  initial training.
    18    4. On or before April first following the training  required  pursuant
    19  to subdivision one of this section, and every year thereafter, operators
    20  of  such  hotel  or motel shall certify to the department that they have
    21  conducted sexual harassment training and  shall  include  an  electronic
    22  list  of the employees who participated in the training.  The department
    23  will issue a hotel or motel a certificate of compliance  upon  receiving
    24  such list.
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05358-01-7

        A. 2179                             2
 
     1    5.  Immediately  upon  commencement  of  employment and prior to their
     2  sexual harassment training, employees shall be  provided  with  a  "know
     3  your  rights" brochure detailing the rights and remedies available under
     4  federal, state and local law. The brochure  shall  be  produced  by  the
     5  department,  in  plain  English,  and  shall  be made available in other
     6  languages, including but not limited to Spanish, Haitian French, Chinese
     7  and Russian.   Employees shall sign a statement  on  a  document  to  be
     8  produced by the department, certifying that they have received the "know
     9  your rights" brochure required pursuant to this section.
    10    6.  Employers shall conspicuously post an employee's bill of rights to
    11  be promulgated by the department. The bill of rights shall be written in
    12  plain English, and shall be made available in other languages, including
    13  but not limited to Spanish, Haitian French, Chinese and Russian.
    14    7.   The department shall establish  protocol  for  sexual  harassment
    15  training which shall be available online to hotels and motels subject to
    16  the provisions of this section.
    17    8. Under the supervision of the department, all employers shall create
    18  and  implement  a  comprehensive  and  confidential  incident  reporting
    19  system, and shall put clear procedures in place to guide  employees  and
    20  managers in the reporting of sexual harassment incidents.
    21    9.  Failure to comply with the provisions of this section shall result
    22  in a penalty of five hundred dollars for the first  violation,  and  for
    23  the second and each subsequent violation, the penalty shall be one thou-
    24  sand dollars.
    25    10. (a) Failure to provide the training and education required by this
    26  section may be considered as a factor in determining whether an employer
    27  may  be  held  liable  for  a claim of sexual harassment or hostile work
    28  environment under applicable law, but liability may  not  be  predicated
    29  solely  upon  such  failure.  An employer's compliance with this section
    30  shall not  constitute  a  defense  in  any  judicial  or  administrative
    31  proceeding  where  a claim of sexual harassment or hostile work environ-
    32  ment has been brought.
    33    (b) Employers shall be prohibited from retaliating against any employ-
    34  ee who exercises their  rights  under  this  section,  or  any  employee
    35  reporting  a  complaint  to management or the authorities that they have
    36  not received training pursuant to this section or a complaint of  sexual
    37  harassment.
    38    11. The training and education required by this section is intended to
    39  establish  a minimum threshold and should not discourage, or relieve any
    40  employer from providing for longer, more  frequent,  or  more  elaborate
    41  training  and education regarding workplace harassment or other forms of
    42  unlawful discrimination in order to meet its  obligations  to  take  all
    43  reasonable  steps  necessary  to  prevent  and  correct  harassment  and
    44  discrimination.
    45    12. For purposes of this section, the following terms shall  have  the
    46  following meanings:
    47    (a)  "Hotel" and/or "motel" shall mean establishments distinguished as
    48  hotels, motels, bungalow colonies, or any other establishment comparable
    49  or equivalent to any of those previously mentioned. The term  shall  not
    50  include  those  places  or  facilities not having the general character-
    51  istics of a hotel or motel as that term is generally understood and  the
    52  commissioner  of health shall have the power to except from this article
    53  and the sanitary code a place or facility that is not within the  intent
    54  of  this  definition  of  a motel or hotel.   The term shall not include
    55  small family owned and operated hotels, motels or bed and breakfasts.

        A. 2179                             3
 
     1    (b) "Employee" shall mean any person employed for hire including  sub-
     2  contractors who works twenty hours or more per week.
     3    §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
     4  have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
     5  repeal of any rule or regulation necessary  for  the  implementation  of
     6  this  act  on  its effective date are authorized and directed to be made
     7  and completed on or before such effective date.
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